Greece has demanded nearly €279bn in reparations from Germany, more than the value of its current bail-out, as the cash-strapped country continues to pursue compensation for crimes carried out by the Third Reich.

A parliamentary committee established by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras put an official number on the claim, which includes the cost of a forced Nazi loan made by the Bank of Greece and the return of archaeological treasures.

Greece suffered a brutal occupation at the hands of the Third Reich in 1941, with over 40,000 people starving to death in Athens alone.

Previous Greek calculations for the cost of the country's occupation have stood at around €160bn. The revised figures however amount to nearly 10pc of Germany's GDP.

Mr Tsipras has called the reparations question a "moral and ethical" issue for his country, repeating his demands during a visit to Berlin last month.

Greek ministers have also touted the idea of seizing German assets in the country to compensate the families of victims of Nazi war crimes.

A poll carried for Greek radio found more than 80pc of Greeks agreed with the pusuit of Nazi war debt claims.

Berlin moved to quickly to reject the fresh claims. Vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel described the proposal as "dumb" and said it risked conflating Greece's current debt problems with historical grievances.

β€œIf you bring two areas that have nothing to do with one another, both heavily burdened issues politically, into a single context, then you make it damned easy for those from whom you want something simply to exit the debate and say β€˜you can’t do that’,” said Mr Gabriel.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has also resisted re-opening old wounds, insisting Berlin has honoured its obligations during a compensatory accord signed in 1960.

In a further sign of a hardening in attitudes towards their creditors, Greek lawmakers also voted to establish a committee examining the circumstances of its 2010 bail-out by eurozone creditors and the IMF to the tune of €240bn.

"After five years of parliamentary silence on the major issues that caused the bailout catastrophe, today we commence a procedure that will give answers to the questions concerning the Greek people," Mr Tsipras said to parliamentarians on Tuesday.

Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has claimed the economy was unfairly lumbered with the liabilities that it is now struggling to pay off as its coffers run empty.

Mr Varoufakis has claimed Europe dealt with his country's bankruptcy by "loading the largest loan in human history on the weakest of shoulders - the Greek taxpayer."

Didn't you make a thread on this last month?

that would be stupid then in the same way it's stupid for Greece to pay that huge debt

Yes, the European Union has to help Greece because it's supposed to be a union where single nation-states come together to solve issues and come into solutions for their problems.

It might seem stupid, but since Greece is being hit with that then politically speaking it shouldn't just lower its head and take that whipping.

And maybe the EU shouldn't have accepted Greece since it knew that it was b.s.ing.